HYDERABAD - India is getting ready to introduce electronic passport to curb the menace of fake passports. A senior government official said the new generation passports are likely to be introduced in the country by next year. The e-passport comprises a plastic card embedded with an electronic chip containing all the details of the passport holder, including biometric information, besides a digital signature of a passport officer, he said.

“A Task Force has been set up to look into the e-passport project, which has held deliberations with different stakeholders (departments). We are planning to start issuing e-passports to new applicants by next year,” Joint Secretary (Passport Seva Project) and Chief Passport Officer Muktesh K Pardeshi said here.As per the figures, the Government of India has issued close to 8.5 million passports and other related documents globally in 2013 and recorded a growth of 14-15 per cent over 2012 (wherein 7.36 million passports were issued). “Going by this trend, we are expecting to cross the one-crore mark in issuance of passports annually by the end of 2014 calendar year or by early 2015,” the Chief Passport Officer said. “With 10 million passports being issued in a year, we will be in a group of handful of countries, with only two countries China and US which are issuing over 10 million passports every year,” Pardeshi said.South Indian city Hyderabad tops the list of Regional Passport Officer (RPOs) in terms of the number of applications processed and services rendered at 640,000 and 630,000, respectively, with 8.9 per cent of total passport services in the country, Reddy said.The official added that Visakhapatnam, with 11 days, tops the list of RPOs on time taken in police verification. (PTI)